Private equity firm in talks to buy JW Marriott resort

The JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa has unveiled a new look after its restaurants and lobby bar underwent facelifts earlier this year.

The JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa has unveiled a new look after its restaurants and lobby bar underwent facelifts earlier this year.

Photo: Courtesy Photo /

Photo: Courtesy Photo /

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The JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa has unveiled a new look after its restaurants and lobby bar underwent facelifts earlier this year.

The JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa has unveiled a new look after its restaurants and lobby bar underwent facelifts earlier this year.

Photo: Courtesy Photo /

Private equity firm in talks to buy JW Marriott resort

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Blackstone, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, is in talks to buy the behemoth JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa, an indication that it has great confidence in San Antonio’s hospitality industry.

The firm has not yet reached a deal to purchase the 1,002-room resort and golf course, which has become Bexar County’s most lucrative hotel since it opened in 2010, according to a source familiar with the negotiations, who asked to remain anonymous because the talks are ongoing. The property has not been sold and is not under contract.

The sale price is not known, but if a deal is reached it will likely be the biggest real estate transaction in San Antonio so far this year. The resort cost more than $600 million to build, and the Bexar Appraisal District assessed it at $275.4 million this year.

“Blackstone must think very well of the property and very well of the market,” said Bruce Walker, chairman of Source Strategies, a local hotel consulting firm. “It would be a very positive outlook for the future of this market by that financial organization. And they’re very savvy.”

Representatives of the resort and its current owner, a partnership affiliated with Denver real estate firm Miller Global Properties, didn’t respond to requests for comment on Monday.

If the deal goes through, it would be the second purchase of a major local hotel by an out-of-state investor this year.

To read the full story about San Antonio’s hotel industry, see Tuesday’s Business section or click here to visit our subscriber website, ExpressNews.com.